China Moving Away from Grain for Ethanol Production

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China will replace its use of grain as the main feedstock for ethanol production with more economical plant material, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top policy planner, said at an April 19 seminar in Shanghai on bioresources. The switch is expected to alleviate rising concerns over food security, as Chinese use of grain for ethanol threatens to compete with domestic food production needs. 

Shi Lishan, director of NDRC’s Renewable Energy Division, told seminar participants that the commission has plans for new biofuel feedstock production bases in Shandong and Heilongjiang provinces, in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions. Input materials being considered include sweet sorghum, cassava, sugar cane, and sweet potatoes, according to Shanghai Youth Daily. 

Soaring oil prices and rising domestic demand for bio-based energy sources have galvanized expansion of China’s ethanol industry. The country is now the world’s third largest ethanol producer after Brazil and the United States, with an annual production capacity of one million tons.

China has initiated a nationwide campaign for ethanol fuel use as well. Currently, ethanol accounts for 20 percent of domestic fuel consumption. However, recent government increases in the prices for petroleum and diesel, by 300 RMB (US $38) and 200 RMB ($25) per ton, respectively, are expected to give the biofuel industry an additional push.

NDRC’s goal is to reach two million tons of annual biofuel production by 2010, and ten million tons by 2020.

So far, China has relied on corn and wheat as its primary ethanol feedstock. After years of expansion, however, distilleries have exhausted their grain stockpiles, and the use of new corn to meet biofuel production needs has begun to jeopardize food security in this populous country of 1.3 billion.

The policy shift is expected to invigorate the search for alternatives, either by expanding cultivation of more economical plants on marginal lands, or by scientific research into using “waste” residues such as cellulose to produce ethanol.  

Driven by strong market forces, some distilleries have already responded to feedstock constraints. Tianguan Distillery in Henan Province is looking into sugar cane, sweet sorghum, kudzu, and cellulose to diversify its raw materials. And Fengyuan Group in Anhui Province made progress earlier this year in processing straw into ethanol. Research shows that the cost of production using straw could remain between 4,000–4,300 RMB ($500–537) per ton, an amount lower than for corn. The group is planning to construct a 300-ton pilot project using straw feedstock this year, according to Economic Information Daily.